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Hi Jason,
Based on the research of the Kabbalists, we can say that reality exists within our desires. We experience the current reality in our desire to receive pleasure. When we correct that desire, direct it towards love and bestowal, we will experience a different reality: spirituality.
But one way or another, everything that Kabbalists ever talk about is the reality that is experienced within our desires. Even when they talk about an upper force, the Creator, etc. These are all phenomena experienced within our desires. This is why there are so many different names for the Creator (in Hebrew), since every time we correct a different desire, we reveal a different aspect of this thing called the Creator, and thereby give it a different name.
As for reality itself, how it exists outside of our desires, such a thing is not scientifically attainable, so Kabbalists don’t talk about it. Kabbalists are after all scientists, not philosophers.
Check out these articles for more details:
https://laitman.com/2012/12/philosophy-a-building-without-a-foundation/
https://laitman.com/2011/12/the-holy-names-of-bestowal/
Shamati 3. The Matter of Spiritual Attainment
As for the topic of free will or freedom, this week’s lesson videos centered around that. You should watch the two videos on the topic if you have not done so yet.
Albert @ KabU
Hi Shaun,
Our desire for spirituality is like a seed. If we plant it in fertile ground, then it’ll get all the right nutrients and grow. If we put it in the desert or just keep it on a shelf somewhere, nothing will come out of it at all. So all of our work boils down to finding the best spiritual environment in which to plant that seed. And what will ultimately happen to that seed is a result of the environment we put it into. We’ll learn more about this in the next semester, when we study the topic of freedom.
Albert @ KabU
Hi Robin,
Thanks for sharing your concerns, hopefully this will clarify them:
1. Kabbalah does not hold the monopoly over spirituality. It’s not claiming to be the one and only method. The Wisdom of Kabbalah is the accumulation of thousands of years of experience from people practically trying to reach spirituality, what worked, what didn’t, etc. It’s not a must to use it, but as you can imagine, it’s a lot faster and easier with it.
2. Furthermore, I’m not an expert in other methods, so I cannot comment on what they do or teach there. Ultimately, there is no coercion in spirituality, so it’s up to each person to choose the path that best suits them.
3. And regardless of which path a person chooses for himself, whether here or in another place, it’s highly discouraged to mix methods. If we want to succeed in Kabbalah (or in any spiritual practice really) we should practice it without mixing other things into it. Otherwise it’s like following two different GPS systems. One leads you to the goal through the west highway, while the other through the east highway. If we follow both, we’ll just wind up going in circles.
4. As for the teachers and books, there have been many Kabbalists and Kabbalistic books written throughout the generations, but we don’t really study them directly in our days. In our days we mainly study from the writings of Baal HaSulam and Rabash. This is because egoism grows from generation to generation, so Kabbalah, the method for its correction, needs to get adapted in each generation for that level of egoism. For example it’s like in medicine, if a person has a headache he can just drink a tylenol and that’s enough to fix him. But if it’s not just a little headache but something cancerous, then that tylenol won’t do anything for him but he needs a completely different regime to heal himself.
This is why Kabbalah gets adapted in each generation to the level of egoism that is currently found in that generation. So although there were many different Kabbalists and Kabbalistic books throughout the generations, nowadays we mainly learn from the writings of Baal HaSulam and Rabash, since their writings contains the light that is most suitable to correct the egoism that is found in our generation.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2015/11/the-great-kabbalists-and-their-works/
Albert @ KabU
Hi Heather, great questions!
1. The rule that “one is raised in holiness and never lowered.” So we never go backwards. It’s possible that we receive an additional challenge that belongs to a higher degree and that challenge can feel like we’re going backwards, but it’s still a step forward.
This is similar to how a bodybuilder that masters a five pound weight moves on to ten pounds. That ten pounds is much more challenging and he cannot do as many reps as before, but this is nonetheless considered progress and advancement.
2. Yes, there are intermediary spiritual degrees. Overall, the spiritual ladder consists of 125 steps. But it’s hard for us to grasp this structure with our current egoistic mind because spirituality is built on a completely different integral quality. For example, if we are to focus on one degree, and zoom into that degree, we’ll find there 10 sub-degrees. If we zoom into those sub-degrees, there are 10 more sub-degrees for each degree, and so forth.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2009/10/how-do-you-calculate-infinity/
3. Overall we’re all advancing in the same direction, but each individual has a different path to get there because each one has a different root of the soul. This root dictates the unique process each one needs to undergo to reach their correction.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2010/10/the-root-of-the-soul/
4. As we develop spiritually and begin to reveal the reality outside of our ego, our attitude to life and death will change.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2013/06/life-and-death-in-the-eyes-of-a-kabbalist/
Albert @ KabU
Hi Johanna,
Yes, evil does serve a purpose. There is rule that “there is no light without a kli (vessel)”, meaning that there is no fulfillment, without a lack. This is similar to how we cannot enjoy food without feeling hungry.
Likewise in spirituality, the light cannot correct us, if we don’t reveal something that needs correction. So the evil is meant to be discovered more and more, so that we have more and more need for the light.
But it doesn’t mean that we should be digging within ourselves looking for the evil. Our aspirations should always be towards something positive, towards acquiring the Creator’s qualities of love and bestowal. If as a result of that work we reveal our opposite evil nature, that’s fine. But that’s a side effect and not something we aspire for directly.
We’ll learn how to do this practically in the more advanced semesters. In the meantime, check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2011/02/the-worse-the-better/
Albert @ KabU
